Keith Papini Told Cops He Was Blindsided by Wife Sherri's Kidnapping Hoax: 'I'm the Idiot Husband'

Mar. 15, 2025

Sherri Papini’s husband said he was “in shock” when he learned about his wife’s kidnapping hoax.

“I’m the idiot husband that stayed around the whole time,“Keith Papinitold investigators after he learned that his wifeSherri Papinihad fabricated her purported 2016 kidnapping and had instead been hiding out with an ex-boyfriend in Southern California during the period she was missing.

Video of Keith’s discussion with investigators was shown on a two-hour episode of ABC’s20/20, titled “The Vanishing Act,” which aired last Friday.

“Now you are telling me, ‘OK, you can go home now,’ Well, do you think I want her anywhere around my kids or around me at all at this point?,” Keith told investigators.

“I don’t know what the next stages of this are,” an investigator told Keith.

“It’s not us together,” Keith responded. “I can tell you that much. I’m in shock.”

Sherri Papini vanished without a trace on Nov. 2, 2016.

Her family, including her children then ages 2 and 4, welcomed her back, and people in the Redding community who had spent days searching for her largely rallied around her.

Sherri Papini pleaded guilty in April, 2022.Rich Pedroncelli/instagram

But after investigating her purported kidnapping, authorities found that it was all a hoax.

Investigators confronted her but she initially denied any wrongdoing.

Sherri and Keith Papini.Courtesy Keith Papini

Last month, Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison and will have to pay back $309,902 in restitution to the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI forlosses incurred because of her lies.

During sentencing, U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb called Papini a “manipulator.”

Suspect sketches.FBI

“People don’t like to be conned,” he said, addressing Papini, theSacramento Beereported. “And I don’t believe those people who were deceived would believe that one month or eight months is sufficient.”

Shubb said the longer sentence was meant to deter others from committing similar crimes.

“If I get away with it, I’ll get $49,000,” he said. “If I don’t get away with it, I’ll spend one month or eight months…We have to send a message that crime doesn’t pay.”

In a handwritten statement before her sentence was handed down, Papini apologized for her behavior.

Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP

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“I am guilty of lying and dishonor. I trust in this court … and I trust in you,” she said. “What was done cannot be undone. I am choosing to humbly accept all responsibility.”

In a statement to PEOPLE after Sherri’s sentencing, Keith said, “The events of the past two months have been shocking and devastating. My current focus is on moving on and doing everything I can to provide my two children with as normal, healthy and happy of a life as possible.”

source: people.com